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I intend to keep up this blog on a regular basis, but I find myself bombarded by a few priorities, such as planning the order and layout of future posts! As this blog is intended to be my meanderings during … Continue reading →

This post is dedicated to reviewing what I found out about help for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, so far.

Among the topics that I set to uncover in this blog is an understanding of the issue I’m raising with The Loom. Somehow, not bringing it up early in this blog feels a bit like I am displacing the issue with a shoddy concept. In fact, I am still cynical of what art can put out when touching on issues, and mostly because Art with a capital A doesn’t have this intent attached to it. I set my work in that direction (at least for now), and so the very least I want to do is put the issue first. Without further ado, here are some initiatives that have successfully engaged this country and given support to Syrian refugees.

– I AM NOT A TOURIST (found here) started up in early December. Leading up to the day of the event, with the onslaught of Winter and Alexa, they continually appealed to Facebook users to not be passive to the exacerbating living conditions of Syrian Refugees. Calls were made for Winter clothing, blankets, and other items for all ages with greater urgency placed on baby and toddler items. The event was run by G Living Green (more about them here), Sawa for Syria (or Sawa for Dev & Aid), Let’s Help our Syrian Brothers and Sisters, and War Child Holland in Lebanon, along with other companies that lent trucks, space, materials and more to make the donation process easier. The endeavor stretched to accepting cash donations with their donation boxes and pick-up with the help of Deghri Messengers.

Donation boxes on site from WCH and Sawa for Syria. Courtesy of the I AM NOT A TOURIST group (photo linked below).

More than 4,000 people passed by and gave in items. I recommend skimming through their event page. So many attendees have recommended other groups for item and cash donations. It’s become a great hub for updates, including the latest on the new NGO that “I AM NOT A TOURIST” is founding.

– Also in line with this event was Zeid & The Wings Live at Radio Beirut, for which entry cost either 10,000 LL or 1 item of Winter clothing. The clothing donations went straight to the I AM NOT A TOURIST collective.

– By the second week of December, Lebanese government authorities permitted the use of specialized tents, meant to last up to 3 years as opposed to 6 months, after half a year of lobbying to allow the IKEA and UNHCR merged project to come. You can read an article about the lobbying and the removal of the prohibition, and a related article about the tent attached at the bottom.

– The Center for Civic Engagement and Community Service (CCECS) is a group established in AUB. A part of the group set their focus on helping Syrian Refugees, called the Syrian Relief Project. For at least two years, they called for item donations, both clothing and other necessities. This Winter, they sent out an urgent plea to the Facebook community and AUB faculty, staff and students.

CCECS mass email sent to AUB students.

Keeping in mind that the I AM NOT A TOURIST event was picking up a lot more hits online, the CCECS managed to get a large number of donations in. With fewer volunteers, they also organized and packaged all that they received.

CCECS volunteers inside AUB organizing donations.

That is not all that they’ve been up to this last year. The Syrian Relief Project have also been accepting cash donations to fund the building of a prototype portable classroom, or “Ghata”. They are currently working with AUB’s Syrian Cultural Club and are posting updates on their Facebook page. The portable classroom can be seen by anyone between the AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery and West Hall.

This project started up earlier during AUB’s Fall semester. The AUB SCC and CCECS are now working in conjunction to build their model classroom.

Here, the volunteers are deciding where the solar panel will be placed.

Volunteering engineers and technicians stand outside the work in progress.

The unpackaged solar panel, transformer, and a test bulb.

Inside the classroom.

Most of the work in progress…

…and the progress to come, the roof with its supports.

Soon enough, I’ll stop in and see the progress til now, but it seems the model classroom is complete. The construction began on December 17. Considering the number of volunteers weren’t great (not claiming it wasn’t enough, but just not that big a number), they proved that number of volunteers, a steady cash flow (The CCECS and SRP used donations from this event and this bake sale) and necessary equipment can manage a single project of this scale.

– Hand in Hand for Syria made this appeal for cash donations, which the organization will use to purchase blankets and heaters for Syrians in Aleppo. This is a little outside the frame of the post, but it is note worthy as it applies to everyone who can help, including the Lebanese. The link I found was in the caption of this image:

Another appeal for Winter clothing for Syrians across the region. Art by Wissam Al-Jazairy (linked below)

Here is where I pause, and end with a few things about help here in Lebanon. I think the fact that these few efforts have engaged a great number of people or made progress within a substantial amount of time is awesome. It is very probably not enough to afford every Syrian refugee the minimum accommodation for the Winter season, their living conditions, their education, and more. The more organizations try to engage the Lebanese community, the more people they reach who can help or offer ideas at the least, and the more help is mobilized.

I promise more updates on the subject, as they come to mind or to fruition here in Lebanon. I also ask readers to throw in suggestions, updates, corrections, and thoughts.

Meanwhile, two more screen captures of relevant information and a final greeting.

This question was posted in the I AM NOT A TOURIST group.

Hope everyone had a fun, warm and comforting new year. I wish everyone a warm and comforting year to come!

This was one of many photos taken by my friends and Graphic Designers, Anastasia Matar and Aya Krisht. The image went on to become a part of an invitation card that Anastasia designed. This and many more gorgeous shots will … Continue reading →

The show features the works of 9 artists – they are Pedro Lasch (who made the call for proposals and approached some artists), Magali Claude, Dima Hajjar, Sandra Issa, Georges Rabbath, Cristopher Rizkallah, Nataly Sarkis, Lara Tabet and myself – and a collective of artists that form 52 Weeks of Labor. I had a lot of correspondence with Pedro while he was overseas, along with my AUB instructor Kasper Kovitz, and the Gallery Curator, Octavian Esanu.

I wanted to find a specific issue on the current Syrian Refugee plight in Lebanon and the lack of mobilization towards helping them. At the same time, I asked questions on whether it is ethical to bring the issue into an art show and even questioned my objectives for doing so. It was clear to some of the artists I’m acquainted with, especially to Pedro, that pulling these and other ideas together would be tough (I might explain some of them in a later post).

In the two months leading up to the opening, I couldn’t find a way to present the initial question until I came across this article. When I started looking for something similar in Lebanon, I didn’t find anything. This is not to say that creative initiative is non-existent in Lebanon, but for a few reasons it was hard to find (update: I review some essential ways different organizations engaged the Lebanese to help Syrian refugees in this post).

I set my mind on finding a way to make a rug specifically for the exhibition, or perform the weaving live; a long and slowly developing narrative for everyone to witness, through the act of weaving and what is being weaved (more on this in a later post, too).

The initial sketch for the rug in context

Rough sketch of the loom, as it was imagined to appear from the front, and notes taken down while learning to weave.

Rough sketch of the loom with estimated dimensions

One month prior to the opening, I was very lucky to meet Yousef Allahverdizadeh, a carpet weaver, cleaner and repairman from Iran, based in Lebanon. He agreed to help me build the loom and to teach me how to weave.

Yousef on the loom, showing me how to add the very first row of weaving.

After bouncing ideas back and forth, Yousef and I came up with a loom, two benches, a set of tools and lots of wool and cotton thread. A lot of the material were procured easily, much thanks to Yousef. We were able to talk about so much in the little time that was granted to us (more on this in a new post, as well).

I have to break away from the timeline here and just mention how astounding it has been to go through with this project. I can’t tell if I have succeeded in anything, but it became evident during the process and a great conversation with Pedro that the direction I’m headed with The Loom is unlike any from my previous body of work. I hope to sample some of them, as well as a few things I’ve already promised in parentheses, in future posts. Whoever you are, if you choose to follow my posts, this blog isn’t unlike other blogs that involve personal exploration and introspection into one’s psyche and active life. Many times, I’ve wished to directly communicate my thoughts and ideas with others, but held back knowing the world is FULL of thoughts and ideas put out there. Maybe this is why I chose to become a visual artist, which raises its own challenges (post about this, soon enough).

I have to stop here, as there are plenty of things I need to brainstorm for this blog. One key thing to look forward to in Part II is some nifty documentation – photos, GIFs and videos, all courtesy of good friends and fellow artists!

The image you see here is taken during the opening of ART / WORLD / DISASTER, coordinated by fellow artist Pedro Lasch and 7 artists who worked within their own media and subject. My subject is the lack of creative … Continue reading →